s thank you all very much for a terrific conversation this morning. stay with nbc news for complete coverage of the installation of pope francis. that starts tuesday on "today." matt lauer will be live from rome. that's all for today.

we'll be back next week. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." good monday morning. right now on "first look," a young boy at home survives but two others are killed when a private jet crashes into three homes. political warfare. karl "the architect" rove against sarah "governor half-term" palin. pope francis is shaking up the cat lick church ahead of his official evaluation. an amazing helicopter jailbreak. guilty verdicts in the steubenville rape case but that's not the end. and the world goes green for st. patrick. investigators are on-scene in northern indiana this morning after a fiery crash involving a small private jet. four people were on board, two

have died. early reports say the plane was experiencing mechanical troubles in its final minutes. nbc's frances koe has the latest on the crash and the investigation. >> reporter: the trin-engine jet crashed into three homes as it was coming into the south bend airport sunday afternoon. a neighbor saw the plane crash into the home across the street. >> heard the jet engines coming and looked up and actually thought the plane was going to crash into our house. and i just hit the deck. and i heard a loud boom noise and the plane went into three houses across the street from us. >> reporter: the jet started leaking fuel into the basement of one of the homes propting officials to evacuate the area. >> there is quite a bit of fuel that is still in the basement. that is the major concern. and that's one of the main reasons why we have the area blocked. >> reporter: the federal aviation administration says the plane took off from tulsa headed for south bend and reported mechanical problems shortly before crashing. investigators from the national

transportation safety board had been called to the scene to try to determine what caused the plane to crash. meanwhile, rescue crews say the plane has made the home too unstable to keep searching through the wreck along. >> the plane is still in the house. the how the is still slightly unstable. once we get it stable, then we'll be able to go inside. >> reporter: crews will have to wait for the crash to be cleaned up before residents will be allowed to return home. frances koe, nbc news. guilty verdict for two high school football stars in a rape case built on social media. but investigators say it doesn't mean the case is closed. trent mays and malik richmond broke down after a judge convicted them of raping a drunken 16-year-old girl. text messages and cell phone photos provided much of the evidence because of the victim's lack of memory. the state's attorney general says a grand jury will meet next month to see if others should be charged in the case. >> this community needs

assurance that no stone has been left unturned in our search for the truth. >> the teens are now heading to jail, possibly until they're 21. nbc's ron allen has a look at the case that captivated an ohio town and the nation. >> many of the things that we learned during this trial that our children were saying and doing were profane, were ugly. >> reporter: as judge thomas led guilty verdicts, trent mays, 16, and malik richmond, 16, embraced their relatives and cried openly. the victim was not in the courtroom when the ruling was read. for the first time since that august night of heavy drinking and party-hopping captured in these images that spread across social media, both boys apologized. >> i would truly like to apologize to [ muted ]. >> reporter: richmond spoke directly to the victim's family. >> i had no intentions to do anything like that. i'm sorry to put you guys through this.

i'd just like -- >> reporter: the victim's mother responded in an audiotape. >> this does not define who my daughter is. she will persevere, grow, and move on. i have pity for you both. i hope you fear the lord, repent for your actions, and pray hard for his forgiveness. >> reporter: in court their lawyers and parents pleaded with the judge not to impose a harsh sentence. prosecutors insist the victim had been humiliated and treated like toy. on the witness stand she admitted drinking heavily at a party then waking up the following morning with in clothes on and with no idea what had happened. she had texted mays, "the expletive would you let that happen, seriously, you have no expletive respect." her attorney after the verdict -- >> she's happy that this is over today. she's probably fearful about going to school monday. tuesday. wednesday. >> nbc's ron allen reporting.

pope francis completed his first sunday as pontiff with what's being recognized as his signature down to earth-style. he started greeting crowds before leaving sunday's mass at st. anna, where vatican workers worship. he plunged into the crowd, catching the security detail off-guard. later hundreds of thousands poured into st. peter's square and erupted in cheers when their new pope stepped to the window to give his blessing which he closed off with a casual, "enjoy your afternoon, enjoy a good lunch." vice president biden arrived in italy yesterday ahead of tomorrow's inauguration mass of pope francis. an nbc news exclusive. an apparent first of its kind cyber attack the electronic voting system in florida. owe officials are quick to point out the breach was unsuccessful but say it raises many questions about security. the case stems from bogus requests for more than 2,500 absentee ballots for the august 14th primary in miami-dade

county. it's not clear whether the requests were an attempt to sway the election. either way they say it poses danger in putting states' voting online. to read the article head to nbcnews.com. in israel and the west bank preparations are under way for the arrival of mr. obama. wednesday mr. obama will make his first trip to the ring general as president. crews in jerusalem have been hanging up american flags. the luxurious king david hotel is getting ready to receive the president and his full entour e entourage. chefs have been busy finalizing dishes and anticipating any possible requests. here's your "first look" at this morning's "scrambled politics." former governor mark sanford is the most familiar name in tuesday's house primary. running on the democratic side is liz bet colbert bush. teddy turner, son of media mogul ted turner, hopes to come in second to force a gop runoff

next month. former obama campaign manager david cluff says he is done with running presidential campaigns but note to biden. >> she is in both parties right now. by far i think the most interesting candidate. probably the strongest candidate. >> at this weekend's cpac, professional provocateur ann coulter hurled insults at chris christie, who was not invited to attend. >> even cpac had to cut back on its speakers this year by about 300 pounds. business mogul and reality tv star donald trump told the cpac crowd what he thought about immigration reform. >> you know that the 11 million illegals, even if given the right to vote, you know you're going to have to do what's

right. but the fact is, 11 million people will be voting democratic. >> and now to karl rove versus sarah palin. the former alaska governor who resigned mid-way through her first term all but called rove by his name with this political dig. >> the architects can head on back to -- [ cheers and applause ] they can head on back to the great lone star state and put their name on some ballot. >> rove wasted no time hitting back at palin. >> i don't think i'm a particularly good candidate, sort of a balding fat guy. second of all, i'd say if i did run for office and win, i'd serve out my term. i wouldn't leave office midterm. >> and that's your admonishing dish of "scrambled politics." now for a look at the weather forecast. meteorologist bill karins joins me. all these political digs and

sniping, i want us to be nice to each other. >> once you hear the forecast you may want to change your mind. i know you're sick and tired of this cold march like everyone else. snow storm on the way. this is going to be a big one for northern new england. you're going to have travel issues tuesday morning, all the way through tuesday night. we have blizzard mornings in effect for areas of minnesota. so it felt cold and chilly all weekend. it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone we're dealing with more winter weather. let me show you what we're dealing with now. we're trying to watch some of this moisture. sleet overnight in portions of the ohio valley. snow in the mountainous areas outside of d.c. and toward the shenandoah valley. d.c., looks like we'll have probably rain and snow mix. i don't think we'll have any problems with accumulations out here. here the d.c. radar. some of the white showing up, possibilities of snowflakes flying. the temperatures well up into the mid to upper 30s. i'm not concerned with the roads. snowfall accumulations, high totals in northern minnesota today. it's really going to be tonight into tomorrow morning we get one

thump and then a little bit left on the back side of it. we're talking snowfall totals, interior new england, boston about 4 inches to 5 inches. same providence. albany, the mat pike northwards, we're talking about significant snow storms. our friends in new hampshire, maine, vermont, we're talking 6 to 12 inches in the mountains, even more. not done yet. >> we'll hold on a little while longer for spring. flying blind. first knives allowed back on planes, now over 170 air traffic control towers face closure. stocks take a big hit overnight. we'll tell you why and what's ahead for markets today. if you have a strong stomach the $10 million wooden outlaw run roller coaster is for you, along with its 16-story drop. [ male announcer ] just when you thought you had experienced performance

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welcome back. some stories making news this morning. later today, president obama will officially nominate thomas perez to be the next secretary of labor. perez currently heads the civil

rights division at the justice department and would be the only hispanic in the president's second-term cabinet if confirmed. police in india say five men have confessed to raping a swiss tourist friday. investigators say two more suspects are being sought. in canada, a daring escape from a quebec prison when two inmates suspended from cables by a helicopter flew to freedom, temporarily. police captured one of the menial with two other suspects. authorities say the second fugitive was arrested overnight. >> the. the faa is expected to make the final decision on closing some air traffic control towers. 173 towers are on the chopping block as a result of the sequester. boy or girl? william and kate have different preference are split when it comes to the gender of their baby, due in july. the duchess of cambridge said she wants a boy, prince william

a little girl. some of the most iconic images in green to celebrate st. patrick's day. italy's leaning tower of pisa and christ the redeemer statue in rio all turned festive green. at home a 51-year-old tradition, the chicago river was dyed green, as was the fountain at the white house. turning to business. as stocks come off last week's record run, will eurozone troubles overseas take a toll closer to home? stocks tumbled across asia on the eu's unprecedented decision to dip into the savings of depositors in cypress to keep the country out of bankruptcy. investors are worried if passed the 10% tax could set a precedent for future blameouts. a new report from sweden points to china's rapidly growing budget to develop modern warfare equipment. a new tally finds tally has become the world's fifth largest arms exporter. the u.s. is number one followed by russia, germany, and france. elsewhere, at&t starts

selling the all-new make or break blackberry z-10 smartphone. these stocks to keep an eye on. tiffany and company weighs in friday. the luxury jewelry company has sparkled recently despite missing earnings estimates three quarters in a row. another fire on deck. darden restaurants. the company missed last quarter's estimates but investors are still hungry for the red lobster and olive garden parent. look for a big drop in productivity from the office along with cheering from co-workers watching college basketball's march madness games at their desk this week. we'll have more details on who's headed to the big dance coming up in sports. just ahead, texas has one less bridge to worry about. and the $24,000 hoax with the girl scouts as the main target. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. at angie's list, you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare written by people just like you. no company can pay to be on angie's list,

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if your breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, vision changes or eye pain, or problems passing urine. other side effects include dry mouth and constipation. nothing can reverse copd. spiriva helps me breathe better. (blowing sound) ask your doctor about spiriva. turning back to some of our top political stories of the day. joining me now, lynn sweet, washington bureau chief for the chicago sun times. good morning, thanks for being here. >> good morning to you. >> let's start with this verbal spat between sarah palin and karl rove. we mentioned it earlier in the show. what's going on with all this infighting in the gop? >> infighting has to do with sarah palin razzing karl rove for getting involved in gop primaries when he just points out, hey, you do the same thing. so it's a lot of -- it's an intrafamily feud.

>> we're expecting a report on the future of the party. what kinds of changes do you think they need to make after losing two presidential elections? >> well, one of the things that's going to be suggested this morning, i can tell you right now, is that the gop chairman is going to suggest a shorter primary season and fewer debates. they had about 23 last time. he's going to say that's just too many. >> certainly did seem like there were an awful lot of debates. moving on to something more serious, obama's first trip to israel and the west bank as president. what is he looking to accomplish on this trip and how will he be received in both places? >> the highlight is going to be a speech he's going to make in jerusalem. what he's looking to do is speak directly to the israel hee people. he's not looking to make a big speech and coming with no initiatives. i think what he wants to do is just reaffirm the commitment his administration has to israel. and i think he wants to reshape

his image. it needs some shoring up in israel because the president has done a lot and he's concerned the message just has had trouble getting through. so a lot of hope that a speech can just help turn around his image. >> okay. lynn sweet with "the "chicago sun-times"," thanks for your insights this morning. here's your first look at some of the other news going on around america. we start in pennsylvania where a tragic charter bus crash left two dead and 19 injured. the bus carrying 23 members of seton hill university women's lacrosse team veered off the turnpike and crashed into a tree. one of the team coaches on board, christina quigley, was killed. she was pregnant with her second child. a memorial service was held on campus. in south carolina, a brush fire grew out of hand spreading to nearby aparticles and homes saturday evening. strong winds and low humidity fed the out-of-control flames. 26 apartment and condo buildings were destroyed, displacing hundreds. marble falls bridge in texas

came tumbling down this weekend. the department of transportation imploded the bridge over the colorado river saturday making way for two new bridges in its place. in portland, a group of girl scouts got an order too good to be true for 6,000 boxes of cookies. it turned out to be a prank, leaving the girls with a bill for $24,000. but the community responded with an outpouring of support. hundreds lining up hoping to buy all the extra goodies. in branson, missouri, a one of a kind-roller coaster is breaking all kinds of records with a 16-story drop. the outlaw run is the steepest wooden roller coaster in the world. it's touted as the planet's second-fastest wooden coaster in the world, all the only one to include barrel rolls. turning to sports, the seeds for the ncaa tournament are in. louisville, gonzaga, indiana, and kansas all got number one seeds. but before the ncaa selections, miami won the atlantic coast conference beating north

carolina 87-77. the hurricanes are seeded number two in the east region. ohio state captured the big ten tournament, holding off wisconsin, 50-43. the buckeyes are seeded number two in the west region. the first round of the tournament begins tuesday with liberty facing north carolina, middle tennessee state against st. mary's wednesday. liu brooklyn plays james madison. boise state faces la salle. second-round games will be played thursday and friday. miami's ray allen hit for 16 points in the fourth quarter alone and 20 overall as the heat won their 22nd game in a row 108-91. that ties the heat for the second-best win streak in league history. and greek soccer player geragos katidis has been banned for life from all the greek national teams after giving what appeared to be a nazi salute after winning a match. he says he would not have done it had he known what it meant. just ahead, "forbes" unveils

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take a look at this. you would think flying through the air in wingsuits was dangerous enough. two norwegian daredevils in rio de janeiro took it to a whole new level. they managed to glide between two skyscrapers before landing safely, thank goodness. the pair are well-known for high-risk jumps. "oz the great and powerful" proved mightier than the rest